WEN 6550T 15 Amp 12.5 in. Corded Benchtop Thickness Planer

To begin, let me say that Amazon is fantastic. This plainer, on the other hand, is neither awesome, great, wonderful, good, or even ok. I was really excited about the test piece of poplar I ran through because it had a great finish, a nice smooth sounding motor, and a really nice and smooth feed. It did have some snipe on the ends, but I used to work at a cabinet factory where we used a $50K plainer that sniped, so I am used to cutting material a bit long. The problem is that after four passes planning my first board for the project I'm working on (a piece of spruce 3/4 thick and 1 1/4 wide), the machine began making a grinding noise from the motor and vibrating the entire workbench so hard it knocked tools off the wall, as well as emitting that wonderful smell that we all associate with a motor burning out. It had been running for about five minutes when this happened. Now, for those of you who are still considering purchasing this machine, Amazon was very easy to deal with because it was within my 30-day return period, so I would recommend unboxing it right away and running it nonstop for a couple of hours so that if it burns up (or explodes), you can return it, get your money back, and order a different brand, as I will. I hope you found this information to be beneficial.

Marie Montgomery

| Jul 01, 2021

I've recently become interested in woodworking and realized that I needed a thickness planer in my workshop. I decided to buy the WEN 6550 planer because of my limited budget and realistic expectations. After countless hours of research and watching nearly every video comparing, using, and reviewing planers, I came to this conclusion. Despite the fact that big yellow came out on top in most reviews and forum discussions, I couldn't justify spending so much money on a tool that I'm not sure I'll use very often. Especially since the WEN appears to be getting a lot of positive feedback. Now it's time for the review. br>br>My package arrived in perfect condition, despite my fears of a battered box with broken or missing contents. All of this did not occur. The planer was well cushioned inside the box, and setting it up was as easy as removing the styrofoam, attaching the handle, attaching the dust chute, wiping down the infeed, outfeed, and granite tables, and waxing them all down. The next step was to set up the planer on a perfectly level surface and use a level to double-check the surfaces. The cutter head did not need to be adjusted because everything was level in all directions. br>br>The first piece of wood I planered was a scrap 2X4 with a slight warp that I knew about. I got some nice square edges and most of the warp was planed out after several passes through the planer. I'm confident that if I had continued, I would have been able to remove the entire warp. Following that, I planered a warped and cracked piece of oak pallet wood. While the planer didn't fix the crack, it did get rid of all the nastiness and reveal a lovely tiger pattern beneath all the rough wood. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with this piece of wood. snipe is something I've read a lot about with all planers, and the WEN 6550 is no exception. While it isn't bad, it does contain snipe. Running other pieces of wood through the planer with sacrificial wood before and after what you're planing completely eliminated all traces of snipe; in fact, the cutter head did such an excellent job on my project that I almost don't need to sand any longer. br>br>How loud is this planer, though, Fred? It's great that you inquired. It makes a lot of noise. Running it without hearing protection means you'll be making friends with an audiologist sooner rather than later, because you'll need hearing aids sooner or later. All kidding aside, yes, it's loud, and yes, hearing protection is recommended. The planer isn't much louder than any other tool in your shop when there's no wood running through it. In fact, my table saw is probably louder, but when you run some wood through the planer, the decibels drop dramatically. br>br>Wood removal is excellent, but I've yet to turn the handle more than 1/2 turn per pass (1/32nd inch wood removal), and most of the time I'm only doing 1/4 turns (1/64th inch wood removal) per pass. 1/16th inch of wood is removed for every full turn. I've put pine, poplar, oak, walnut, maple, and purple heart through the planer so far, and it hasn't given me any trouble. I'll try doing a full 1/16th inch in a pass once I've used the planer a bit more and am more comfortable with it. This planer has two reversible blades and is equipped with a two-blade cutter head. Blade removal was said to be more difficult on this planer than on others in one review I read. Now, I'll admit that I have nothing to compare that statement to, but blade removal was not difficult or complicated for me. Simply remove the two screws from the dust hood and the two screws from the blade cover, and your blades will be ready to use. There is a cutter head lock, and you must push it down to rotate the cutter head to reach the second blade, but this isn't difficult or time consuming. br>br>Ongoing testing will determine how well this planer holds up, but based on its performance thus far, I see no reason why I won't get many years of use out of it. If you're looking for a planer, WEN should be your first choice.

Savanna Daugherty

| Apr 28, 2021

BUT! This device is fantastic! I have a few other WEN products and have never had any problems with them, nor have I ever needed to contact customer service or order a replacement part. I had no problems with this planer, but I did get into a piece of wood that had a small piece of metal in it that I didn't notice. Be the GIB who holds the blade after shattering it. Now, I didn't notice this, and it was my fault, but I've been told this GIB is on order for the past nine weeks. Even though it has 5 star reviews, most of the items for this machine are sold out on WEN's website. You'd think that with such a popular machine, they'd have spare parts on hand. Customer service doesn't seem to care and can't provide you with any information; instead, they transfer you to a supposed parts guy who leaves a voicemail and never returns your call. This is extremely detrimental to the small business owner who is attempting to make a living. I guess I won't be purchasing WEN products any longer.

Ayleen McDonald

| Jan 06, 2021